Title
Letter from Mannes (?) Mensink to Fellow Believers in the Netherlands
Files
Description
A letter of M[annes?] Mensink to fellow believers in the Netherlands who writes that the Rev. Isaac N. Wyckoff is helping several Hollanders including himself to find work in Albany where the group would spend the winter. A key sentence in the letter is: "Van Raalte is away, from Buffalo to Detroit, and then to Michigan and Wisconsin; he intends to buy land-900 acres for 7000 dollars—on the Grand River, just check it on the map, between [Lake] Huron and [Lake] Michigan; it will be a big mistake if it actually happens; he has asked the Reverends Wyckoff and De Witt in New York for money;..." Undoubtedly Mensink has been in conversation with Wyckoff about Van Raalte and where he planned to settle. Yet Van Raalte in his letter of December 16 is not sure where he will settle his colony. Mensink speaks about many fellow Hollanders. "We were of two factions, those of Drenthe opposed us." A person from Arnhem was negatively vocal about Van Raalte and Brummelkamp. Mensink settled in Alto, Wisconsin where Roelof Sleijster had gone. See the Minutes of the Classis of Wisconsin, Reformed Church in America, about Mensink's role in church affairs in Alto.
Date
12-30-1846
City
Albany, New York
Source
Unknown
Recommended Citation
Mensink, Mannes and Lagerwey, Walter, "Letter from Mannes (?) Mensink to Fellow Believers in the Netherlands" (1846). Van Raalte Papers: 1840-1849. 237.
https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/vrp_1840s/237
Notes
Translation by Dr. Walter Lagerwey.
Description of the document by Dr. Elton J. Bruins.
About the collection:
Elton J. Bruins, long-time professor in the Department of Religion at Hope College, spent years collecting documents by and about Albertus C. Van Raalte, founder of Holland, Michigan and early patron of Hope College. Documents were gathered from dozens of public and private collections, making a nearly exhaustive collection of Van Raalte's writings and reflections. It is these documents that make up the "Van Raalte Papers."
Digitizing the Van Raalte papers was supported by the Dutch Culture USA program by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York. The project was done in partnership with Heritage Hall at Calvin University, which also digitized its Van Raalte collections.